Sport Karate and the down fall of traditionalism

Sport Karate and the down fall of traditionalism

By J.James

 

            As of late I have been talking a lot about sport karate vs traditional training or Budo style training and how it’s not a good idea to change your views and practice in training. Ironically I have been doing this as we are now part of a provincial Karate group that does a lot of WKF Karate training.

The thing that has bothered me is how this involvement in sport has change the way that traditional Karate people are training and they are creating a new tradition and new mentality in their training, and I am actually not a fan of this. Also the “Sport” style is a merging of styles…again, not a fan of this practice….next the sport body now gives out Dan ranking…again…not a fan of this. I love watching different styles like Goju, Uechi and Shito do their Kata, but the idea that they should all compete against each other in a Kata competition is ludicrous and silly.

I have to explain that I am a traditionalist and I was trained and programed to view Karate as a specific and traditional art. Because of this I have a hard time watching Karate change, I admit it…it’s very hard for me to watch WKF stuff and view it as nothing more than TAE KWON DO, which in itself is not wrong, but the whole thing is a bit of a slap in the face to traditionalists because we pride ourselves on repeated aesthetics that make our style unique. The sport Karate tries to create a generic system that allows all styles to participate but in my mind it causes a “Vanilla” version of Karate.

If you think that this sounded harsh towards the WKF rules, well wait for it. The interpretation of Kumite by the WKF rules is a total divergence from the traditional intent of Kumite and by definition the WKF rules are NOT Karate…which is why Tae Kwon Do fighters often, as in the case of Karate Team Canada, end up on the “Karate team”.  I am not saying that they are not athletic, the WKF athletes are in great shape and can move fast, but the rules that they play with is creating generic version of Karate that waters down or sands down the corners that create the uniqueness of each style. Have you ever watched a Goju person do one of their Kata or a Uechi person perform their Kumite. Its very distinct and very beautiful, how about a Shotokan person doing Kumite or doing Kata…again, a very beautiful aesthetic is created. Now train them to all move the same, turn on a weird TKDesk side stance and kick box for points…not so beautiful anymore.

The bouncy stuff aside, using the Sport Karate rules of needing to make multiple points takes away from the ideology of traditional Shotokan Karate! So what exactly are the difference and why between Shobu Ippon style tournaments and the WKF tournaments. Well let’s look at the rules first and by the rules I want to first explore the Kumite part…then the Kata and you will see how it changes the soul of Budo Karate, then we will define the Sport Karate world vs the Budo Karate world!

      In Traditional Shotokan tournaments or Shobu Ippon tournaments the participant is looking for the perfect technique, the application of perfect timing, power, control, distance and correct movement to create the feeling of “ikken hissatsu” or one punch one kill. The idea is that one movement earned you the fight, your reverse punch to the face/body was so sufficiently created that your fight would be over in real life. You have reached perfection in your technical application.

      To be fair the JKA and many traditional tournaments do use a “Sanbon Shobu” event or “first to two points” kind of set up for some events, but the more traditional is the Shobu Ippon or perfect one point event. To score a point the attack must “land” or be targeted to Jodan or Chudan (Head or body) and points are equal if you target the head or the body. The movement must have the following criteria; proper execution of power, distance, timing and correct posture, concentrated mind and spirit and proper frame of mind and execution to the proper target.

      You can get an Ippon also if you counter powerfully, knock your opponent off balance, you catch your opponent so well that they cannot defend themselves or you use a combination and all the attacks land. You can also put together two ½ points or Waza-Ari into a full Ippon to win the match.

If the techniques are not perfect, lack some of the requirements the attacker may be issued a Waza-ari or half point. Because of these rules the Ippon focus makes the individuals focus more on execution of the perfect technique over just throwing massive amounts of unfocused techniques at their opponent. The idea is striving for better Waza and the perfection of the mind and body in doing so. Sounds kind a hookey but its true, that’s what Kumite should be.

Now WKF rules are a lot different, First off you can score an Ippon which is worth 3 points, a Waza ari worth 2 points or a Yuko worth one point. How you score these points is very different. Yes you need good form, sporting attitude, vigorous application, good timing and distance but Ippon is only awarded for a throw or fallen opponent or a head kick! Waza ari is scored with Chudan kicks and the Yuko are given for punching or striking……never mind if they are perfect or not. In order to win you must have a “Clear lead of eight points” or the time runs out, then the person with the highest number of points wins.

When you are doing the WKF rules you are trying essentially to tag your partner more than they tag you, and use techniques that are more flashy and exciting like head kicks to do so or sweeps and throws then tag your partner so you can gain more points. The focus is taken away from perfection of form and functionality and put towards scoring points. Watching the WKF rules tournament I can say that the focus is definitely removed from perfection of Waza and replaced with a tag style mentality. Also, some of the competitors score a higher amount of points then play keep away to run out the time for the match; both of which take away from the true Budo spirit of Kumite.

 

      Kata competition is another world as well. With Kumite I can see opponents from different styles competing against each other…Kumite is Kumite after all. However we now run into a different issue in judging Kata. I have been doing Karate for 37 years (maybe a bit longer) and I can confidently tell you that I have no hope of judging a Goju Ryu Kata or Uechi Kata with any kind of confidence or competence!  I also may feel that I can recognize different Kata from Shito and a few other styles but I have no business judging a person’s form in a style that is different than my own, nor does a Goju, Shito or Uechi person have any business judging a Shotokan guys Kata.

The JKA outlines 10 major criteria for judging Kata and right off the hop they basically say you need to KNOW the kata to judge the kata. The first criteria is proper sequence of movements. If you have never studied the Kata then you don’t know if they are doing the right movements! Goju/Uechi/Shito practitioners that do Kata at the WKF training level have a plethora of Kata open to them that I have never seen or trained in and I would not feel comfortable judging these kata.

The next few criteria for Kata in JKA rules tournaments are athletic in nature; levels of strength, Contraction and expansion of the body and proper seep, power and accuracy of technques, posture, balance, stance and accuracy of use of the “weapons”. Flow and synchronization during team kata all make up the basic criteria for the Kata. Watching JKA kata for me is also a form of dramatization of the characteristics for each Kata. Empi needs to look different than Jion ext. I personally love good Shotokan Kata, its dynamic, explosive and shows great form….and its something I am used to. I get very uncomfortable watching other styles Kata as I know I am critical of them and bias against them, and I also don’t see the aesthetics I am looking for in the Kata.

WKF Kata rules are much the same but there are issues with the application of the Kata rules. First off, and most importantly….the competitors can choose from any of the Ryu Ha style Kata. And I have seen Shotokan style competitors start dipping into different Ryu ha kata in an attempt to stand out as different. The result is a “Shotokanized Goju Kata” or other styles Kata. This looks strange to both Shotokan and the other Ryu Ha’s membership. My feeling is that you should be selecting from your own styles Kata base and not trying to do a different Ryu Ha’s Kata. Also, I know of several “Shotokan” style members who do only Kumite and don’t even know a Kata from their own Ryu ha….you are not a black belt in Shotokan if you cannot do Shotokan kata! Nuff Said on that!!

To score points in Kata performance for WKF you need proficiency in three different areas. First is conformance…..Are you doing the standard Kata from an accepted Ryu Ha! In other words did you pick a kata or make one up! The WKF traditionally has been very lenient in this regard. If you pick a known Kata or can demonstrate it comes from “SOME” group then you can do it. The old required Kata are out the window and now you can do almost any Kata….regardless of your back ground.

Technical Performance is Much more important than picking an appropriate Kata! The judges look at stance, techniques, Transitions, timing, correct breathing, focus and Technical difficulty….like diving! So as long as you look great…..you get points. Next up and more important to WKF in my view is the Athletic performance. The “performer” must show proper strength, speed, balance and rhythm. Never mind that they don’t know the Kata the judges will look at what kind of athlete you are while doing the Kata.

Having watched high end JKA competitors and regional competitors as well as WKF rules competitors the two things that I can say about Kata competition is first off EVERYONE DOES UNSU TO DAMN MUCH! What is with doing Unsu for every match or Sochin as a close second. The JKA syllabus has 26 Kata in it, you surely can find a unique Kata to do for the tournament other than the one that EVERYONE is doing! And secondly the JKA guys blow the athletic types at WKF out of the water when it comes to showing proper execution of power and timing!

One of my other pet peeves is the “Fibered up” requirements for the Kiai in WKF tournaments to sound like the person is trying to pass building material while doing Kata! For me this also smacks of TKD style forms were the practitioner Yells and yells trying to show spirit and showing a complete lack of knowledge as to what Kiai is used for and should sound like!

      The last WKF rules tournament I went to I saw some very intricate WKF Kata being done from what I can only guess is Shito ryu, but the Kata was unimpressive and looked like a dance with no real applicable movements. Yet the person doing the dance won first place. I think Kata has to look a specific way and the student doing this Kata  has to understand it as being training for fighting not performance art!

 

            The next thing that I noticed after years of using only hand pads and a mouth guard was the LEVEL of foam gear that was being used by WKF rules competitors. JKA rules or Shobu Ippon rules states that you must have a mouth guard and hand pads to compete, that’s it. I have competed with this gear for a long time and never been seriously hurt during matches. The focus on control and single perfect techniques helped stop a lot of us from flailing and hurting each other. Extra foam was always seen as a bit of an insult, meaning you did not have the right level of control! After hundreds of competitions I can only remember one or two accidents that lead to injuries.

            WKF rules state that you need special hand pads, mouth guard, shin/instep pads and in some cases chest and head guards. The limited time I have seen competitions using this kind of Foam dipped in plastic I have seen more cuts and pulled skin, more  impact related injuries because people now lack the control that we ask for in Shobu Ippon tournaments. Also I see more flailing and praying for points at this level and a call for more head kicks as ways to score points has led to more injuries due to dangerous techniques that the Shobu Ippon rules.

            In WKF rules more points are scored with dynamic head kicks or using poor controlled moves than the JKA rules that see more points from Gyaku Zuki and other more controlled attacks. This is the key difference created by the point scoring system. If we focus on control, better form and functionality over tagging someone for points we will be much safer. This is why I discourage most students from doing the WKF rules tournaments in favor of sticking to JKA rules or Shobu Ippon rules Kumite.

 

            I get a lot of “this is traditional Karate” style arguments or “This is how multiple styles compete against each other” kinds of arguments. The truth is that just because you have a picture of a founder on your wall does not mean you are doing something that the founder would even recognize as traditional. WKF rules training is so very different from what we are taught in the JKA and the JKA was founded on the principle that tournaments were needed to draw in more students. The WKF took the JKA or traditional rules and made them more sporty, for some this is fine, for the rest of us this is confusing and counter to what we teach in the Dojo.

            I always ask myself if the practice or application of rules at a tournament comply with my ideology of what Karate is. Does it enforce the idea that your style must be applicable in a real situation or does it encourage a style that is not applicable and trends towards a sport environment and application that would require a compliant attacker. In other words does your kata look real and would it be useable in a defensive situation and is your Kumite training real or just patty cake sport Karate? Too often the answer is that its fancy and it won’t be useable, its “creative” and fun but not applicable…you just left the realm of martial art for the arena of sport Karate.

 

            My focus when I teach and train in Karate is to work on Budo Karate or what I call Showa Karate and to apply the principles of this to everything I am doing. Budo Karate people can use sport as a tool to learn and apply, but only if the rules are set up to reinforce this principle in training. Non-Budo Karate lives in the sport field and they play patty cake or tip tap to score points. They don’t have a true understanding of Budo because the rules leach this ideology out of the training itself.

            Training in Budo/Showa Karate is challenging, rough, repetitive and challenges the mind and body. It looks simple but teaches lessons like patience, persistence and proper Karate waza. The application is often seen as brutal and direct, the relentlessness of training is criticized by many as overly harsh and often instructors are seen as task masters who push students to perform thousands of repetitions of a single movement before moving on. The sport coach is doing fun drills and setting up students to work on dynamic things and constantly giving positive feedback. The honest truth is that traditional artists will be very good at the few techniques that they work on, they will have great form and application of the movement is almost a reflex. The sport persona will have fun and use much more dynamic movements, but fail to gain the deeper understanding of movement and application. However the training is much easier to sell and Dojos are full because of this. However in a real life situation the traditional student can upholster the basic waza they train in and use it.  Kihon practiced until its reflexive is the martial way!

 

            Okay, so why am I so dismayed at the WKF/Sport Karate and why is it not okay in my mind. Two things….One its not traditional Budo, which is what the Karate systems were essentially trained as.  Budo Karate is a special kind of training. It does not matter if its JKA, Other shotokan, Shito ryu, Goju ryu or other styles, the ideology of the training is the same. You train to improve your mind, your system is done in such a way that its applicable and you train to perform realistic and repeatable movements. I think of people like Mario Higoanna Sensei who is a Goju instructor, his Karate is Budo! My lineage is budo as well. We don’t suffer sport Karate types well and we see the holes in the training and methods. Once sport is gone so is the student!

            We are really facing a whole generation of sport Karate students who will be lost to Budo/Showa Karate if we do not act to counter this. As instructors we need to focus on more traditional Shiai training for our sport outlets and we need to build our students understanding of Budo/Showa Karate with more focused training and talk to them about the training being about mind, body and spirit not just gaining medals and we need to educate the public about the execution of one perfect technique over playing Tag with our students at tournaments. Now after all of that, WKF rules may not be my cup of tea, and its truly the spirit of the training that is important. I feel that tournaments are a good thing, you just need to adjust your thinking and focus on budo training with traditional rules that make sense and are geared towards your ideology. More sport Karate is not the answer, more Budo/Showa Karate is!